Understanding Your WEP Security Key

By Jim Witt

There are many computers terms and lingo out there to understand. Sometimes it gets a little confusing with all the acronyms and phrases that are used. While it's not necessary to learn what all of these things are, understanding the basic ones will really help you out.

The WEP key is one acronym that many people don't really know about. It is important to understand the basics of it as you will probably encounter it at some point or another. It's a very simple concept that almost anyone can learn.

The WEP key, or Wired Equivalent Privacy key is made up of a combination of letters and numbers. You will probably see it as a ten digit code. If you are setting up a wireless home network, you will most likely need a WEP key code.

Most people know about a WEP key because they have used it with their wireless routers. The reason routers have them is for security purposes. It encodes information that is sent across the network making it hard for others to read. This is a good reason to get a router for your networks as they have much stronger security.

A wireless router will come with a default WEP key. Lots of people leave it as the default key so they don't end up forgetting it. It's easy to forget because you only really need it when you first set up your network.

If you end up forgetting what your WEP key is there are a couple things that you should do. You can always contact the company and get it reset, but this may cost you some money. You should first look everywhere you can think of for the key. Look on the original box and in the manual.

There should be a router IP address that you can log into. The user name and password will be defaulted to something very general such as admin or password. Once you're logged in, you will be able to see your WEP key.

Having to enter in the WEP address may seem unnecessary but it really does provide a lot of security. It will keep others from viewing your network. Make sure you know what your WEP key is and write it down so you can always have access to it.

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